Being in business for six decades teaches valuable lessons about how to stay in business. Among them, a drive for excellent customer service.

“We hope that everyone who comes through the door feels loved and wanted,” Beutler said. “We live in this community, so our customers are our neighbors.”

All these lessons started back in 1951 when Albert (Ab) and Dot Beutler opened up the only restaurant west of Redwood Road in a rented tin shack in what was then Hunter, Utah.

Ab worked for Kennecott. But he wanted additional income to support his seven children, of which Elizabeth’s husband, Bart, is the youngest. The little eatery provided great food to customers and jobs for the Beutler children, who all learned about the restaurant business.

“We’ve stuck to our guns for 65 years,” Beutler said.

Elizabeth and Bart took over in 1990 and eventually opened a second location on 4700 South and 4100 West. They ran both locations for about 11 years. The original location operated until 2003 when they built their newest and only location at 4591 S. 5600 West in West Valley City.

“We’ve kept it simple since day one,” Beutler said. “We’ve always cooked-to-order, used fresh meat, cut and cook our fries daily, and we’ve never deviated from that and we don’t use cheap products.”

Beutler said many businesses begin their own downfall by changing what made them successful or cheapening the product for greater profits.

“Plenty of people tell us ‘you should do this’ or ‘you should do that’ and we just say ‘sorry, this is how things are going to be,’” Beutler said.

Ab’s Drive-in operates and will continue to operate under the moniker “old-fashioned goodness.” Come by to taste just that. Order their famous Fat Boy burger, a menu item since the beginning, and one of their handmade shakes, including eggnog shakes, just in time for the holidays.